The latest in Bruin football, basketball and other sports

Main menu

Post navigation

UCLA’s student section could be moving to new seats this season. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

After positive results from a student survey, the UCLA football team could be moving from the sunny side of the Rose Bowl sooner rather than later.

Of 1,342 respondents in a survey conducted by The Den and UCLA athletics in November, 61 percent of said they would prefer moving student seating at the Rose Bowl for UCLA football games to the north end zone from its current position in the northeast corner of the field. Seventy-five percent of respondents also indicated that they would be as likely or more likely to attend games if the student section was moved.

In the current set up at the Rose Bowl, the UCLA football team is required to use the sun-drenched east sideline due to a Pac-12 rule prohibiting student sections from being behind opposing benches. Moving The Den to the north end zone (between sections 8H and 15L in the lower bowl) would then free the football team to move to the shadier west sideline as early as this upcoming season. Continue reading →

McKinley led the Bruins with 18 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. Brown led the conference in tackling (119) and had the first 100-tackle season for a UCLA player since Erik Kendricks in 2014. Vanderdoes, who declared for the NFL draft despite an extra year of eligibility, returned from ACL surgery to start 12 games for the Bruins this year, tallying 29 total tackles. Young was second on the team in tackling (90), tackles for loss (8.5) and sacks (5.0).

UCLA freshman Lonzo Ball and Kentucky’s Malik Monk (5) are two of the four point guards projected to be picked in the top five of the 2017 NBA draft

Should he turn pro after this season, could Lonzo Ball be part of the best draft class of point guards ever?

Sports Illustrated’s The Cauldron asks this question after Ball outplayed not one, but two Kentucky point guards expected to join him in the 2017 NBA draft. Malik Monk is playing out of position at Kentucky because De’Aaron Fox is that good. But neither Ball, Fox nor Monk are expected to be among the top two point guards selected in the draft.

Ball will face off with the top point guard prospect in Pac-12 play when UCLA visits Seattle Feb 4. Washington freshman Markelle Fultz is projected to be top pick in the next NBA draft by Draft Express followed by N.C. State freshman point guard Dennis Smith at No. 2.

Ball is currently projected as the fourth pick and Monk the fifth pick. Kansas freshman Josh Jackson is the only player in the Draft Express top five who isn’t a point guard.

The UCLA basketball team’s lofty statistical ranks seemed hollow six games into the season. Even head coach Steve Alford admitted that leading the nation in scoring after running up triple-digit totals against the likes of Pacific, CSUN and Long Beach State didn’t reveal much about his team.

Turns out the No. 2 Bruins can produce offensively against just about anybody. And play enough defense against another of the best offensive teams in the country to win – on the road. Stats like UCLA’s nation-leading field goal percentage were validated when the Bruins shot 53 percent against Kentucky.

UCLA isn’t just playing at a breakneck pace, evidenced by an average of 14 seconds per possession. What really makes the Bruins scary is that they’re scoring the fifth-most points per possession in the country, making them the only team in the top 11 in number of possessions and offensive efficiency. For a deeper look at the statistical marvel UCLA is to this point, here is a story about the questions UCLA answered in Saturday’s win at Kentucky.

Archives

Archives

Comments policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.